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It behoves them to make their prowess known, and to tell of help afforded in the arena of strife. It neither fosters pride nor puffs up the creature when God's workings "to will and to do" are made known to the honour of His name, but rather engenders deepest humility. This does not render Christians vainglorious nor self-complacent, but leads them to the mercy-seat for "more grace," that they may yet do more valiantly, and gain the victor's wreath, in matters of life and duty, at last.

So would we begin the year 1873, and "FORWARDS" shall be our Motto. "Speak, Lord," shall be our cry; and in Him alone shall be our righteousness and strength.

Let the Committee of the British Society-its noble army of Missionaries -its earnest Deputations, and all its officers-let every subscriber, every reader, and every young person who loves the Saviour-join in the prayer and echo the cry. Let each one bring the truth as it is in Jesus, undiluted, before the unconverted Jews, in some form or other. Let each strive, for instance, to make the pages of the Herald a vehicle for declaring that truth, and let it then be distributed, with prayer, far and near. It is the channel of no uncertain sound-it is the mouthpiece of no party-it is the organ of no sect. Deep love to the souls of our Jewish brethren is our one rallyingpoint, and this, kept full and always in view, will necessarily exalt Jesus, the Messiah, and the great salvation through His blood.

These swiftly passing years will soon have run their course, these days and weeks and months will have an end, and the great Eternity will open upon us. Now is the time for work for maintaining the war against Antichrist in every form, and for the faith once delivered to the saints; for striving against sin; for reclaiming backsliders, and for planting the banner of the Cross far and near; and, above all, for glorifying the great name of Jesus Christ in our bodies and spirits, which are His. May God make us sufficient for these things.

The Jew.

THE existence of the Jew cannot be ignored. Carelessly happy in the possession of all that once was his, the self-opinionated Gentile pursues his way, greeting with half contemptuous pity and disdain all reference to the claims and interests of Abraham's seed. But the men are there-their citizenship is cosmopolitan-their presence is apparent, and their voice is heard in the legislature, the forum, the camp, and the market. The Jew in England, at any rate, may take his place in every position beside all competitors, free and fearless. Jewish philanthopy on the one hand, and Jewish wealth on the other, attract our constant notice, and interest us in despite of ourselves in the people who are at once so liberal, and so impartial in that liberality. Shrewd, observant, and tenacious is this race, and who can circumvent or go beyond a Jew! But how about their state before the God we love and adore! How about their belief and living interest in the Son of His love! How about their reception of the Gospel

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of His grace, and the only way whereby men can be saved! Civil privileges they have, and perfect liberty of conscience. This concerns the State, and we rejoice that the long night of persecution is past by. But if it be that the Jews as a nation are still utter rejecters of the one and only Saviour-if they trample on the precious blood of the covenant-if they despise the name of Jesus-they are in worse and more dangerous condition than the heathen, and the wrath of God is abiding on them. This is an awful fact; a fearful contemplation. Every Jew in this state is UNSAVED, and, holding with us the Old Testament Scriptures as the oracles of God, he denies “ Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write." Shall we then be fondly and deeply interested in the missions to the heathen-to soldiers-to sailors to the fallen ones-and to countless other most blessed, most important, and God-glorifying works ?-shall we give time, money, thought, and prayer for them—and thank God we do so--and shall we forget or neglect our clear duty, or coldly and grudgingly perform it, to those we jostle against in every-day life at home, and who form a considerable part of the population of the great continental cities?

We have been constantly amazed, as well as deeply pained, by the rebuffs we have received from time to time, from nearly all denominations, on this point. Our hearts have sunk to hear the flippant rejoinders, and the assertion, "I do not like Jews-I do not care for them; they are so unsatisfactory, so hard, so disagreeable." The accusation may be true; nay, it is true (more or less), but are they, therefore, to be ignored and neglected? Is a Jew more unpleasant to deal with than a ferocious South Sea Islander, a sly Chinaman, or a bigoted Fakir? Is he more repulsive than an oildrinking Esquimaux, or a cannibal dweller in the isles of the Pacific?

To these latter you send missionaries; you work for them, plead for them, deny yourselves (sometimes) for them. For their instruction you pay good men and true, sending them across the seas. On their account you translate the Scriptures, and maintain establishments, under various names and connected with various societies, whose aggregate incomes amount to tens of thousands. To the Jews you sometimes appear to grudge even the two societies existing among Christians in England, and if you contribute at all you look carefully at every shilling.

Some professors of the religion of Jesus, men high in church matters, deservedly looked up to and loved, venture, in the face of men and angels, and before Israel's God and the one common Saviour, to affirm that they know no authentic instance of Jewish conversion. We have heard this statement again and again. Leaving the record of illustrious names inscribed on the muster-roll of God's chivalry, and of the Bible, let the pages of the twenty-seven volumes of the Jewish Herald speak; let the yearly publications of our valued sister society; let the writings of that man of God, the late Ridley Herschell, and of the excellent Charlotte Elizabeth; let these and many more speak; let them be searched diligently for answers in proof. Let the labours of the devoted missionaries of the societies speak; let the persecutions to which the converts have been, or even now are subject, bear also noble, true, and triumphant witness. Let us have done then,

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once and for ever, with this wicked apathy, and still more wicked, because unreasoning and often impalpable, opposition.

There are millions of Jewish men, women, and children without God the Saviour, and consequently without hope in the world. These people rightly viewed are the most interesting characters on the face of the earth, and a most peculiar and weighty blessing attaches itself, by the sure Word of Almighty God, to all who seek their good.

We shall put before the readers of the Jewish Herald, in some detail, arguments for the manifestation of the interest we claim on behalf of the "scattered nation." What we now desire is to awaken conscience, to arouse slumbering sympathies, and to direct into this Jewish channel more of those grand energies which flow out as a fertilizing stream whenever there is need or distress. Faith in the sure word of prophecy, and love to the man -THE JEW-who, though

is all that is required to secure results of work undertaken in living faith in His all-prevailing Name, and to number, according to the election of grace, multitudes of Israel's despised race among the church of the living God.

We take leave to speak plainly though in all tenderness, now and afterwards, what we shall have to say on this behalf, for "the time is at hand," and what we do must be done quickly, in faith and love which is in Jesus Christ.

H.

Palestina: the Land of the Jew.

CHAPTER I.

PEOPLE who love the Jews, and who care for their present welfare and future history, must surely care also for the land of their possession—a country now defiled and trodden under foot of the Gentiles, despoiled of her ancient grandeur and beauty, but one day to regain her glory and to arise from the dust, resuming her beautiful array, taking once more her place among the nations, and re-echoing those glad strains of salvation through the Christ of God, which have been for so many years a forbidden theme to her children.

Nor is it Israel's past history alone that is full of the most thrilling associations; but her present condition awakens a new and keen solicitude among many classes of Christians. Schemes are set on foot for the redemption of portions of the soil, for its cultivation, and for the well-being of the few poor Jews who are sojourners thereon. Many can remember how formerly all mention of Israel, and of Israel's concerns, was received with either covert sneers or with open scorn; whereas now interest is expressed, and zealous though inadequate efforts are put forth in many quarters for her welfare. Few persons have a correct idea of the geography of Judæa, the

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extent of the land, and its topographical features. This knowledge, however, though rare is valuable, and it is well to be able to assign the proper place in the country to each locality, and to have right conceptions of the distances and altitudes of the hills and valleys, rivers and brooks, towns and villages, celebrated in Bible story.

It will be the object of these papers to carry the reader throughout the length and breadth of Canaan " as the crow flies," making Jerusalem the centre from which to radiate in each given direction, noting places and objects of interest, and sojourning awhile here and there to recall memories of the past and to dream of the future.

Making liberal use of the writings and researches of those Eastern travellers who have left their impressions of the "Land of the Book," we shall freely quote therefrom, giving the authorities, so that our readers may go to the fountain-head for more full information upon any particular point or special locality. When, as is often the case, our authors do not agree in their facts or deductions, we will use the best means in our power of judging— carefully weighing the collateral evidence so as to discriminate to the best of our ability-between the conflicting statements.

Before we start upon our first exploration, we will shortly discourse on some matters of prefatory interest and importance. There is, without question, an intimate connection between the history of a nation and its geography. Light is thrown upon great achievements and solemn events from the consideration of local circumstances, and thus places and incidents associated therewith are clothed with vitality.

Stanley, in the introduction to his "Sinai and Palestine," says on this point, "Facts are stubborn things, and geographical facts the most stubborn of all. We cannot wrest them to meet our views, neither can we refuse the conclusions they force upon us. It is by more than a figure of speech that natural scenes are said to have witnessed' the events which occurred in their presence. They are 'witnesses' which remain when the testimony of men and books has perished. They can be cross-examined with the alleged facts and narratives. If they cannot tell the whole truth, at any rate, so far as they have any voice at all, they tell nothing but the truth. . . It is impossible not to be struck by the constant agreement between the recorded history and the natural geography both of the Old and New Testaments. To meet in the Gospels allusions, transient but yet precise, to the localities of Palestine, inevitably suggests the conclusion of their early origin, in the times when Palestine was still familiar and accessible."

This is a striking and authoritative testimony to the value of an accurate knowledge of the physical features of the country, and that knowledge is peculiarly valuable to the larger proportion of Bible readers and lovers of God's ancient people, because they are personally unable, and will ever be unable in this mortal life, to visit the spots of which they read therein. To them pictures more or less graphically drawn for the mental eye are grateful, that they may in imagination be transported to the localities of mighty acts, great deliverances, and gracious words, done and spoken there for Israel's much loved people by the servants of the Most High, throughout the long

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ages of her territorial history, and to trace His footsteps who, in the fulness of time, came to His own, and His own received Him not."

This first chapter is introductory, and the next must be devoted to the general characteristics of the Holy Land in its physical features, when the way will be cleared for the first mental journey, which we purpose to be Southwards from the city of the great King to the dread and desolate shores of the Dead Sea.

CHAPTER II.

The land is

PALESTINE is known in Bible history by several designations. called Canaan in Exodus xv. 15, Judges iii. 1, &c., Psalm cvi. 38, and in several places in the Prophets. Once, by Joseph, it is designated the Land of the Hebrews (Gen. xl. 15), a striking and suggestive term. The Land of Israel was the term usually given to the country during the reigns of the kings. It is also Ezekiel's favourite expression (vii. 6, xi. 17, &c., &c.), whilst Hosea terms it the Lord's Land (ix. 3); Daniel, the Glorious Land (xi. 16); Joel, and other prophets, by the simple and emphatic expression, the Land. So, also, in Ruth (i. 1). At the first the term Judæa was exclusively applied to the Southern part, but gradually the name was given to the whole land, even to the part beyond Jordan (Matt. xix. 1, Mark x. 1). In Hebrews it is usually designated the Land of Promise (xi. 9), and in ancient history the words Judæa, Canaan, and Palestine are applied constantly and interchangeably. The Talmudists and other Jewish writers chiefly call it the Land of Israel, but throughout the middle ages the name running like a silver thread in and out through legend, tradition, and history—the name which has endeared itself alike to Jew and Gentile, the name most appropriate of all, and which will attach itself for ever to the soil—is the one first endearingly applied by Zechariah,-THE HOLY LAND (ii. 12). It is curious that this same appellation is found in the ancient hierographical inscription of Rameses II., and more than one scholar believes it appertains to the land taken possession of by the nation brought out of Egypt with a high hand and an outstretched arm.

Considering the all-important position the country has ever held in the past, and will ever hold in the future of the world's history, it is surprising how small is its size and how scanty its proportions! Mr. Grove, Secretary of the Palestine Exploration Fund, to whose excellent statistical and geographical account we are much indebted, states the size of the land to be about that of Wales. Other writers give a somewhat larger extent, but all agree in fixing the length at from 140 to 180 miles, and the breadth at from 40 to 50 miles. This is the Palestine known to ourselves and to Jewish history. It appears that the future boundaries will be considerably enlarged, the original grant to Abraham being "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates," and from the Mediterranean Sea to the utmost verge of the Arabian Desert (Gen. xv. 18).

The country as we have to do with it lies, therefore, as a long, narrow strip, on the extremest Western edge of the far-famed Eastern Continent, separated therefrom by the yellow rolling waves of shifting sand of the